The NRA's Social Media Silence

The NRA's Post-Newtown Social Strategy: Silence

NRA officials have kept quiet in the wake of Friday's elementary school shooting in Connecticut, declining to comment publicly on the tragedy or the renewed debate on gun laws that is now taking place inside the Beltway and out of it. That's a strategy that is also being mirrored online by the pro-gun rights group.

The NRA's official Twitter feed has been noticeably silent since early Friday morning when it last tweeted about a "10 Days of NRA Giveaways" promotion the group was running. Later in the day, NRA officials appear to have decided to take their virtual radio darkness one step further, unpublishing the group's official Facebook page. Adweek notes that the NRA page began redirecting to the main Facebook homepage Friday evening, roughly 10 hours after the shooting.

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It's unlikely the NRA would delete its Facebook page permanently—especially since the group was celebrating its 1.7 millionth "Like" only the day before. Instead, as TechCrunch explains, the move is most likely only a temporary one to avoid the heated debate that would have been certain to occur on the NRA's wall, which in turn would have increased the pressure on the group to comment publicly at a time it clearly hopes to lay as low as possible.